Sunday, 24 March 2013

Must read book by ex-tax inspector
Richard Brooks 'The great Tax Robbery' [272 pages Oneworld] is
subtitled: ' How Britain became a tax haven for fat cats and big
business'. Just a few gems.
Osborne has allowed chunks of his corporate tax policy to be written
by companies with the help of the same accountants who design
avoidance schemes. Under the previous Labour regime penalties levied
by HMRC on very large companies for transgressions had fallen to
0.01% of their 'error' – around 200times less than the fines
imposed on small companies. Also, since a Private Finance Deal in
2001, HMRC's offices have been owned by a company in Bermuda. HMRC
cannot therefore scrutinise the finances of its 'landlord'. Lots
more. Read the book.

Friday, 15 March 2013

I have just been reading a book called
'Defending Politics' by Prof. [of Parliamentary
Government & Governance] Matthew Flinders of
the University of Sheffield. His contention is that democratic
politics delivers far more than most of us recognise and that “If
more & more people are disappointed with what modern democratic
politics delivers then it is possible that the fault lies with those
who demand too much, fail to acknowledge the essence of democratic
engagement, and ignore the complexities of governing in the 21st
Century” and “Would
politics be interpreted as failing a little less if we all spent a
little less time emphasizing our individual rights and a little more
time reflecting on our responsibilities to society and future
generations?” These
statements are taken from a summary on the dust cover but the book
argues the case very readably and even handedly and I personally
agree very much with him. You do not have to spend long on
Facebook/Twitter to see how the 'debate' on pretty much anything is
reduced in pretty short order to hysterical rants in which vicious
character assassination is the prime thrust.

Monday, 11 March 2013

Why are we British so allergic to having key energy utilities owned by [and making profits for] the British Taxpayer when we are quite content to let the French Sate Owned EDF operate here? Is domestic energy security not as important as building dinosaur weapon systems like Trident replacement? The defence industry gets about £40bn annually from the Treasury. Rail gets about £4bn [silly me I thought the point of privatisation was to get rid of taxpayer subsidy] and DECC gets £4bn of which more than half goes to dealing with old nuclear plants. Are our priorities right? Answers on a postcard.

Sunday, 10 March 2013

The Observer 10th March 2013
interviewed eleven City of London finance workers to seek views on
the EU plan to restrict payouts. What was weird was the fantasy land
in which these people live - except it's not a fantasy, it is the
reality. One man in his 30's said “If you are a bog standard
trader you make maybe £400k of which £150k is base pay”. He
went on to point out that the cap would reduce his total remuneration
by £50k & that would not encourage him to move abroad. One other
in his mid 40's queried whether, if his pay was drastically cut by
this cap, he would want to go on getting up at 5a.m & not
finishing work until 8p.m. Can someone tell us in what other job can
a 'bog standard' 30yr old make £400k per annum? Anyone on average
earnings has to work for 15yrs to make £400k. And as for working
from 5am to 8pm a hell of a lot of cleaners, hotel workers &
others do that for less than a total of £25k per annum because they
need two jobs on mimimum wage to make ends meet. It is not the
politics of envy to suggest that this delusion in the financial world
about what a proper entitlement for effort is worth must be fixed.

Friday, 8 March 2013

From Australia: Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at Government House. One is from Cabramatta, another is from Marrickville, and the third is from Lane Cove. All three go with an official to examine the fence. The Cabramatta contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil. "Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900, $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."The Marrickville contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says, "I can do this job for $700. That's $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me". The Lane Cove contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the government official and whispers, "$2,700."The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?"The Lane Cove contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000for you, and we hire the guy from Marrickville to fix the fence." "Done!" Replies the government official.

I do, in fact, find it a bit worrying that this sort of story has moved from being very amusing cynicism to pretty much mainstream expectation. Democracy in developed countries seems to me to be in deep trouble.

About Me

A Liberal & then Lib Dem supporter since 1955 largely due to the fact that they were the only party to recognise that the UK belonged in Europe & was not the 51st State of USA
I ought to be on the 'Grumpy old Man' show. There is a lot to be grumpy about. In this blog I just want to set down some of the things that I think are wrong that our political masters & big money are doing to Britain and that will screw up the lives of my grandchildren.
In my Europe Matters blog I want to try & challenge the misinformation put about by those who think that if only the UK pulled out of the EU a sunlight future beyond our wildest imaginings would fall into our laps.